Artistic rendition of the LaoSat-1 satellite.
The Lao Asia-Pacific Satellite Co. Ltd. has signed agreements with Kanboon, with the signing ceremony taking place in Vientiane between the deputy general manager of Lao Asia-Pacific Satellite, Li Ying, and Kanboon Sompraingarm board member Taratip Koonnawutti.
Kanboon Sompraingarm is one of several companies interested in the television broadcasting service offered through the Lao Sat-1 satellite and has signed an agreement to transmit the Lamkhong TV channel for one year. They have also agreed to cooperate in distributing their satellite receivers.The Laosat HD satellite receivers will facilitate television broadcasting through DTH satellite communication where 60 television channels, including six Lao channels, are already housed. The satellite receivers are also serving the many television programs being broadcast from foreign countries, including those channels produced in-country. Lao Asia-Pacific Satellite also recently signed agreements with AEK Group to provide Laosat HD satellite receivers in Laos.
Rental of a Laosat HD satellite receiver starts at 350,000 kip (Bt1,500) a year while 600,000 kip will cover two years. After Lao Sat-1 was launched in 2015, its operations were trialed for two months before it officially began commercial services in March 2016. So far companies from Indonesia, Thailand, and China have signed agreements to rent space on the country’s first telecommunications satellite while others have expressed interest and will monitor the future operations of the satellite.
The satellite was designed, developed and delivered on orbit by China. The project cost amounted to US$259 million (Bt9.1 billion) and the satellite is expected to have a lifespan of about 15 years. The satellite is designed to provide communication links for government work, television transmission and a range of other telecommunication applications in Laos. A shareholders’ agreement to create the Lao Sat-1 Joint Venture Company was signed in Vientiane between the government and three Chinese developers.
The government holds a 45 per cent stake in the Lao Sat-1 Joint Venture Company, while APMT has a 35 per cent shareholding, SSTC 15 per cent and APST 5 per cent. The satellite is helping drive Laos’ economy by providing Internet and television programs, especially to families in more remote mountainous regions.
Over the previous year, many foreign companies expressed interest in signing a Memorandum of Understanding to rent data usage from the satellite, with four of those companies already signing on the dotted line. Manager of the Satellite Marketing Division of the Lao Asia-Pacific Satellite Co., Ltd., Mr. Onideth Oudomsak, told Vientiane Times that the four companies that have signed up so far are from Indonesia, Thailand, China and Taiwan.
After Lao Sat-1 was launched on November 2, 2015, its operations were trialed for about two months and it officially began commercial service in the middle of March 2016. Lao Sat-1 was launched by a LM-3B launch vehicle from the Xi Chang Launch Centre in Sichuan province, China. After several orbiting maneuvers, it was parked in a 128.5 degrees East orbit slot on November 26, 2015.
The satellite is equipped with 22 transponders (14 in C- and 8 in Ku-band), which will provide various services such as satellite transponder leasing services, satellite telecommunications and teleports, Internet, satTV broadcasting, emergency support and other uses. The total project amounted to US$259 million —a shareholders’ agreement for the Lao Sat-1 Joint Venture Company was signed in Vientiane on October 30 between the Lao government and three Chinese developers.